Weakness and Remedies
Some of the weaknesses observed in the candidates’ scripts were:
(i) Unpreparedness on the part of the candidates
Most candidates did not prepare well for the examination, probably because they were Private Candidates or perhaps, they did not see a need for preparing for a subject like Christian Religious Studies. This was evident in their expressions and answering of questions which were weak and lacked content as though they were coming across some of the topics for the first time. In other instances, one noticed that the manner candidates answered questions were through the residual knowledge they had about such topics which was gotten through Sunday school preaching and sermons and such teachings were not adequate enough to answer questions in Christian Religious Studies. To this end, such candidates failed to answer the questions as presented in the Bible.
(ii) Inadequate knowledge of the subject
Some candidates answered questions that they did not have enough knowledge or understanding about thereby guessing the answers to those questions. To this end, candidates were unable to score high marks in such questions. In like manner, some candidates failed to understand the demands of questions and such candidates strayed away from the essence of the questions.
- Inadequate and inappropriate responses to questions
Many candidates responded inadequately to the demands of the questions by giving inadequate answers to some of the questions, especially in questions requesting candidates to answer from a particular point of view, e.g, from a particular gospeller or apostle. To this end, candidates performed woefully in some of the questions.
(iv) Sermonizing (preaching)
Most candidates that answered questions, especially in Section C, were more of preaching than stating the facts or answers.
(v) Poor grammatical expression
The tenses and grammar of most of the candidates were bad. They could hardly express themselves in simple correct English even in situations where they seemed to know the demands of the questions.
(vi) Unnecessary Preambles
Some candidates gave very long and unnecessary preambles to the questions instead of going straight to the answers. This made them waste valuable time on irrelevant points thereby, limiting their ability to score good marks.
(vii) Illegible Handwriting
Some candidates wrote in illegible ways which hindered examiners to decipher the words and meaning of what some candidates wrote. Wrong spellings coupled with poor expression of ideas and facts negatively affected the performance of a lot of candidates.